USN sends 8 juniors to National High School Ethics Bowl

After winning the Tennessee Ethical Bowl and the Divisional Playoff, University School of Nashville's undefeated Ethics Bowl team travels to North Carolina this weekend for the eleventh annual National High School Ethics Bowl. Jaya Gupta '25,  Caroline Keiper '25, Ellie Klein '25, Eliza Nichols '25, Zinnia Nichols-Loller '25, Ellie Rothman '25,  Amelie Soslow '25,  and Kati Tong '25 will compete against 23 other schools from across the nation during intensive ethical discussion from Friday, April 12 through Sunday, April 14. Hosted by the UNC Parr Center for Ethics, the National High School Ethics Bowl, inspires and challenges high school students across the country to develop their ethical reasoning skills and engage in productive dialogue about complex ethical issues.

This academic year has been NHSEB’s most impactful season to date, with over 4,000 students from nearly 400 schools vying across the country in 44 Regional and four Divisional Competitions for a coveted seat at NHSEB’s National Championship. These students are spread geographically across 34 states and demographically hail from all walks of life but are doing the hard work of thinking, talking, and working together on tough moral issues that define our times.

The three-day national championship event this spring will see students exercise their critical thinking skills, provide each other with constructive criticism, and strengthen core democratic virtues in conversation about 15 case studies developed by the Parr Center. This year’s championship cases will address questions about the
ethics of zoos, space burials, online dating, and more.

NHSEB promotes respectful, supportive, and rigorous discussion of ethics among thousands of high school students nationwide. An ethics bowl differs from a debate competition in that students are not assigned opposing views; rather, they defend whichever position they think is correct, provide each other with constructive criticism, and win by demonstrating that they have thought rigorously and systematically about the cases and have engaged respectfully and supportively with all participants. Data from NHSEB surveys shows that this event teaches and promotes ethical awareness, critical thinking, civil discourse, civic engagement, and an appreciation for multiple points of view. NHSEB’s goal is to do more than teach students how to think through ethical issues: It is to teach students how to think through ethical issues together, as fellow citizens in a complex moral and political community.